RAF helicopter built using half of chinook captured in Falklands

A helicopter flown by the RAF for the last six years - including a spell in
Afghanistan - was constructed by combining portions of a crashed aircraft
with a chinook captured from the Argentinians in the Falklands War.

A Royal Airforce Chinook HC2

11:05AM BST 17 Jul 2009

The Ministry of Defence disclosed the helicopter's past history in a letter to the father of a 21-year-old TA trooper who was killed in a mine blast in Afghanistan in December 2007.

Ian Sadler, who lost his son Jack in the explosion, has been highly critical of the inadequate equipment provided to British troops.

"Everyone I have told about the helicopter being a cut and shut has responded with disbelief," said Mr Sadler, from Exmouth, Devon.

"It's penny pinching and an insult to the young men who are going to Afghanistan and risking and losing their lives.

"It's disgusting the way they are treating these young soldiers." The front of the twin engine helicopter is from an RAF Chinnook which crashed in the Oman in 1999 when its rear blades touched the ground, ripping one of the engines from the aircraft.

The rear was taken from a former Argentine Air Force Chinnook which was seized in June 1982 during the invasion of the Falkland Islands.

The MOD says it was air tested successfully and re-entered service in 2003 - including work in Afghanistan.

The MOD's letter to Mr Sadler explains: "Following inspection and later alignment checks, it was confirmed that the forward fuselage could be repaired but that the rear of the aircraft was beyond repair.

"An analysis of options identified that fitting a suitable donor rear fuselage was the most cost effective and timely solution to returning the aircraft to service with minimum technical risk. A number of potential donor airframes were assessed but only one (tail number ZH257, formerly of the Argentine Air Force) was in suitable condition.

"A three year recovery programme was conducted by Boeing and the Defence Aircraft Repair Authority at Fleetlands, concluding in September 2003."

The two sections were joined together using rivets and fasteners and 'all major components throughout the airframe were replaced during the recovery programme'.

An MOD spokesman said it was 'common practice' to use parts from other aircraft to maintain others.

"There are no safety implications with doing this and to scrap an entire aircraft because of the failure of a particular component, or components, would be a huge waste of taxpayers' money."

Lib Dem Defence spokesman Nick Harvey MP said: "It begs the question as to how we have got our helicopter stock into such a state that we are now resorting to such desperate measures."